Aura stepped forward and took the bundle that was no more than spare rags tied together from Gadeiros and tried to hand it back to the nearest boy. He stood there paralyzed with fright and then chanced a look up at his king. The crowd seemed to be holding its breath.
Something stirred way down inside Gadeiros and it hinted at regret. That his people should fear him and that the princess should see it made his mind step into an unknown territory.
The child bowed and moved forward to place his hands on the rag ball. Just as he reached for it, Aura made it glow. The children gasped in delight and the onlookers in the square murmured in the background.
“Thank you mistress,” the boy said and took the ball.
“You are very welcome,” Aura said, “if you take it into the shade, my moon sprites may find you and their magic is great fun.”
The children’s eyes grew wider and they dashed off with their prize.
Aura smiled at the crowd and that was enough to set the Gadeans at ease. Gadeiros moved beside her and claimed her hand again. She trembled at his touch but he took that as a good sign. Feeling her even in such a small way stirred his loins and awoke a hunger for her the same way setting eyes on her for the first time in the temple had.
She lifted her eyes up to his and they were bright with – surprise? Wonder? Or was it a desire to match his own?
A blush stole into her cheeks then and he had his answer. He smiled at the knowledge as she ducked her head and began moving with him.
They spent the rest of the day walking the market, sampling vendor’s wares and looking at the seaside city.
“You have a charming people,” Aura said.
Gadeiros didn’t respond at first. Truly, he’d never really thought about it.
“I do,” he said finally and he hoped the note of realization in his voice wasn’t detectable. “Tell me more of Emania. What is it like there?”
A smile brightened Aura’s face. They walked outside of the agora toward the palace. Gadeiros knew their time alone was at an end. He couldn’t keep her to himself any longer until they were wed and he had much to do between now and then.
“A lot like here,” she answered, “cooler, like I said before, and the trees are different.”
Gadeiros looked at the fruit trees overhead, plucking a piece of fruit from one of the bows and handed it to her.
“And what else is different?” He asked. “I’ve heard it is a mystic place.”
“Yes, all the souls of Keltia pass through Emania to be rejuvenated by the skies but it is the people there that are the most fascinating…”
Gadeiros came nearer to her until they were both standing at the bottom steps of the palace. He reached out and brushed her shining cheek with his hand, stroking the tendril of her hair that had a habit, he had found, of falling forward. She smiled and her inner light pulled him to her like a force. He dipped his head to taste her petal soft lips and her lashes fluttered closed.
“Aura,” King Borean’s deep voice broke in from the top of the steps, dispelling the moment and Gadeiros pulled away.
“Father,” she said.
“Your mother is waiting for you.”
“Yes father,” she moved to take the steps then stopped and turned back around to Gadeiros, “thank you, my King, for such a pleasant day in your company.”
“My thanks to you Kassa,” Gadeiros said with a regal nod of his head.
Aura hurried up the steps then to seek Queen Llyswenn.
Borean kept his eyes trained on Gaeiros for a moment then turned and left.
“My king,” a servant came huffing and puffing up to the steps, relieved at finding his quarry. “I’ve been searching for you all day, axo. The Egyptian emissary is in a state to meet with you before the day is done. Will you see him now?”
Gadeiros sighed, he’d wanted to sit alone for a while to think on the events of the day. His mood toward the Greek and Egyptian alliance had shifted, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be a part of whatever they were planning. The more he thought about it, the less he believed in their good intentions toward Atlantis. His coming marriage would put a halt to his military campaigns for the time being, so he had no immediate need for their gold. Amazing, the changes a single day could make.
“No,” he stated simply.
The man’s shoulders slumped.
“Tell him I will see him tomorrow.” Gadeiros started up the steps, leaving the tired, dejected messenger to deal with a, no doubt, disgruntled dignitary.
As soon as Gadeiros entered the great room of the palace his progress was again halted.
“Gadeiros my love, I’ve been waiting for word from you all day,” Thema, Queen of the Nereids trilled as she wrapped her arms around him.
Gadeiros extricated himself from her embrace quickly, looking around the room and half expecting to find King Borean’s penetrating gaze on him. He was relieved to see no sign of the sky god and turned a hard stare on the nymph, holding her at arms’ length.
She smiled at him, confused.
“When you weren’t in our conference with the leaders of The Alliance I knew something was wrong. Then I heard the preposterous news coming out of the temple. Tell me, Gadeiros, what is all this talk of you marrying into the Keltoi?”
“I’ve changed my mind about The Alliance Thema…”
“But why,” she broke in, the blue tone of her nymph’s skin flushing with agitation. She acted the worried lover but Gadieros could tell that she was annoyed at not being able to find him all day. He’d trifled with the Nereid on occasion, even thought that she’d make a good ally, but she presumed too much and had been too involved in his business of late. Her praise of his military prowess had been amusing to him at first but now he had other matters to think of.
“I’m going to be concentrating my efforts on the kingdoms I have already, instead of going on the march. I may even retire from the battlefield altogether. So I have no need of Greek or Egyptian gold.”
Thema looked incensed at his words but recovered quickly.
“When you speak of retirement are you saying that your mind has turned to thoughts of home and hearth Gadeiros?”
She slanted her head at an angle as she studied him, trying to soften her features with a beguiling smile that fell short. Knowing her as he did it was easy to see through.
“Are you finally going to live up to your agreement to marry me my king?”
Gadeiros stepped away from her and fixed her with such a look of irritation that she squirmed under it.
“There was never such an agreement between us Thema and well you know it. Our association is a thing of circumstance, you being of my father’s realm and I being a king of Atlantea. Our time of intimate acquaintance was an entertainment and you can’t say otherwise. It was the same for you.”
“Perhaps,” she relented, “but what can a child princess of the sky gods have to offer you or Poseidon? I, at least, would be supportive of your warrior’s interests. You can’t mean to give up razing countrysides completely. You enjoy it too much.”
Her voice took on a placating whine that he hadn’t noticed until now and it grated.
“I don’t know,” Gadeiros sighed. “This morning I would have said no but I’m beginning to think Poseidon and my brothers are right. Maybe there is more to me than my army. And the princess you speak of so scathingly will be my queen, Thema. You would do well to remember that. The gods of the moon are a necessary ally for Poseidon and I think I… ehm…I think Gades will love her.”
Thema glared at him.
“I see. The great warrior king thinks he is in love with the shining young maiden after only a day?”
She scoffed and he suddenly remembered why he had never been able to stomach too much of her company at one time.
“Well, when your coffers are bare and your enemies are invading we will see who you turn to for an alliance.”
“You can be sure it won’t be you Thema,” Gadeiros said and stalked out of the great
room, silencing any further tirade from her.
***
Thema walked out of the room in the opposite direction and nearly stumbled into a messenger outside the door.
“Watch where you are going insect!” She yelled at him.
“A thousand pardons my lady, I sought the king with an important message from the Egyptians.”
“What message?” She demanded.
The man’s face fell. His loyalty was to his king but he’d been soothing the Egyptian’s ire all day and now, faced with the wrath of the infamous Nereid queen, his stalwart manner withered so he answered.
“The emissary,” he explained, “he said for me to tell King Gadeiros that if he does not meet with him tonight that he will be leaving and that The Alliance will have nothing else to do with Gades.”
The servant quailed under Thema’s stare and when her hand gripped his shoulder he flinched.
“Tell him that I will meet with him,” Thema said
“My lady?”
“Go, imbecile, tell the Egyptian I will see him shortly.”
The messenger scurried away to do her bidding, leaving her alone on the steps.
“You think to mock me Gadeiros? You and Poseidon will soon find out just how powerful I can be. Atlantis will crumble under my hands!”
Chapter Forty-one
Isle of Gades
Fog rolled in after the rain, thick and wet. Ronan and his men had searched the island to no avail. Cindy couldn’t be found anywhere and he feared that she’d been taken already or had succumbed to the storm.
Finn had tried to reassure him.
“We’ll find her Ronan, when the fog lifts in the morning. She probably found herself a hidey hole somewhere to wait out the rain. She may even have made her way back to the villa while we’ve been out searching.”
Ronan hoped that was true even as a sick feeling of dread weighed down on him. Surely though that had to be what had happened. Cindy wasn’t a fool. She‘d probably slunk back up to his room while everyone was out. Even now, she might be warm and tucked inside his bed. He allowed himself a feeling of relief at the idea that she’d be safe and in his arms again, in just a moment.
The beast had tried to awaken within him several times during the frantic search but he’d found the strength to quell it. Realization struck him. Perhaps the will of the human side of him was all that was needed to master the blood fury. His spirits lifted at that thought, so much so that his brooding expression nearly changed to a smile as he walked through his bedroom doorway.
“So happy to see me.”
His eyes flew up when Thema’s voice met his ears. His face went hard as he turned and found the Nereid queen lounging in the middle of his bed again. There was no sign of Cindy anywhere in the room.
“Why are you in my rooms again Thema?!” he demanded, his voice echoing off the walls.
“Is that any way to welcome the one whose tenderness you used to crave, Captain?” Thema purred.
“Ha, you’re about as tender as Hades’ hounds and the only thing I’ve ever craved from you was your departure. I’ll ask again, why are you here?”
Thema sat up.
“I told you before, I was sent.”
“I don’t care who sent you, you viper! Leave here and leave the woman alone…”
He strode from the room, intent on finding Cindy now whether she wanted to see him or not. He had to save her from Thema’s treachery.
“You stole from the gods!” Ronan halted at her words and turned around to face her.
His blood boiled as she walked towards him. He tried to calm himself for he knew that she fed off of his anger.
“The woman had no part in it. I was the one who gave the elixir to her. If anyone should pay such a price to appease the gods, it should be me.”
Thema studied him for a moment, an expression of mocking pity on her face.
“So self sacrificing, my king,” she sneered then turned and walked past him down the stairs.
Ronan stopped as realization set in. Then he followed her, the beast inside starting to stir again.
“You knew…” he started.
“Of course I knew,” Thema said as she neared the fountain. She turned to him, “I’ve always known who you were Gadeiros. You were mine!”
Ronan shook his head side to side in disbelief but said nothing as her eyes went wild.
“We were lovers, you and I, pledged to rule together. Your passion for warfare and my power…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “We could have had everything, the world, the Tides, Olympus even. But you and Poseidon went back on your promises! Cast me aside. Me, a goddess in my own right! I’ve tried to bring you back to the powerful warrior king that you once were ─ that I deserved to have at my side ─ but your resistance has worn me down and now you waste your time worrying over a human woman. The king I once loved is dead, his glory gone.”
Ronan’s anger roiled inside him but he tamped it down lest she see and be encouraged by it.
“It is true. I am not the same…” he paused, “… man, you knew from before. I’ve seen myself as I once was and I could never be that way again.”
“I see that now,” Thema said, “You reigned in Atlantis as a demigod once but now it is you who are ruled…by the human half of your heart.”
She shook her head again then stepped into the fountain.
“Humans,” she scoffed, “with your feeble minded logic, always allowing your emotions, to dictate every decision. Your championing of others makes you weak, Captain.” She sneered as she spoke the only title he’d ever known. “That’s why you were so easy to control!”
Her eyes flashed as wind swept across the room and thunder shook the floor again.
“The woman must die tomorrow at sunrise,” Thema said.
She stilled once that proclamation was spoken and looked back at him.
“Of course, there’s always more than one way to appease the gods you know.”
Ronan noted the maniacal look in her eyes but his anguished state made him willing to listen to her counsel. He thought only of Cindy now.
“Tell me,” he said.
Chapter Forty-two
After the storm had calmed, Cindy left the cave. She’d sat listening to the sea crash against the shore for the rest of the evening once Thema had gone. When the air started to turn colder, she decided to head back to the part of the island she knew. She had no desire to get lost here and, now that she had an exit plan set in place, she didn’t care if she ran into Ronan or his men.
Retracing her steps along the beach, she walked through the trees, hoping that the fog would clear as she moved away from the water. The folly in her thinking soon became evident though, as she moved into the forest. The canopy of trees overhead might provide lovely shade during the day but, as twilight approached, it cast everything into darkness. The fog followed her, rolling along the forest floor and before she realized, it had obscured the path.
Panicked, she turned in every direction but couldn’t see a thing. It was too still and quiet and when an owl hooted overhead, it spooked her. Blindly, she ran off the path, cutting through the mist. It wet her skin until her feet slipped out from under her and she landed with a squish in cold sucking mud.
She yelped and the sound echoed but she could only see fog and dark. Water started to lap at her feet and she scrambled backward, sliding against mud and wet rocks. Finally, she pushed herself up but just as she started to pull a foot underneath her, something slimy clamped around her ankle and before she could make a sound, she was dragged through the mud again. She screamed, as she was pulled, but only until icy water enveloped her.
Thrashing only made whatever had a hold of her wrap its tentacles further up her legs and pull her deeper until her lungs felt like they were about to burst. She kicked again and again, trying to break loose but her struggles were to no avail. The pain in her chest became unbearable. Then something gripped her under her arms and yanked her free with no small am
ount of pain to her legs. She started to rise through the water at warp speed.
As soon as her head broke the surface, she gasped in relief, choking and coughing up water. Hands and a large body supported her as she was moved backward. Eventually, she found herself stretched out on the muddy bank. She rolled onto her side, sputtering.
“This is a deadly fog to be out in alone,” spoke a voice above her.
She coughed up the last of the water, blinked tears from choking out of her eyes as she tried to see who had saved her. She started to push up on an elbow when a large hand stopped her and a man squatted down by her side. The mist suddenly cleared.
“Stay still little one,” he said, “that baby Keti almost had you for its dinner.”
“Baby,” she coughed, disbelieving that the creature that had grabbed her with such force could be considered a baby.”
The man nodded. He looked like some kind of fisherman or something. He was large and muscular, his skin and hair shimmered in the filtered moonlight of the trees. His eyes sparkled with movement like starlight on water.
He was beautiful was all Cindy could think.
“Tell me,” he said in a strange voice that was deep and yet sounded distant all at the same time, “why are you out wandering on a night like this?”
“I-I…was l-lost,” Cindy answered when she found her voice.
“Hmmm,” was all he said.
He studied her with those strange eyes of his. It felt as though he could see right through her. His gaze met hers for only a moment then he lifted his head up to the moonlight and closed his eyes. When his focus came back to her, he pointed at her necklace.
“That’s a lovely charm, princess,” he said.
Cindy’s hand went to the stone. She pulled on it and looked down then let out a nervous laugh.
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